by patbarone
Here in the U.S., it’s Thanksgiving week. All around me, I’m hearing a collective intake of breath: those who eat, those who do not eat, those who eat by rules, and those who eat in disordered patterns — they are all in a panic.
Thanksgiving is feared by anyone who isn’t living in a peaceful relationship with food. Laden with high-fat, high caloric food, it’s a celebration of abundance that Americans translate into plenty of food.
Celebrate your happy body.
We could celebrate the abundance of ingenuity, fun, humor, love or… just about anything… but we have translated it into food. Too funny, when you think about it. What if we celebrated an abundance of energy and lined the highways, exercising all day?
Hmmmm.
Don’t mind me, my mind just works that way. As I direct my thoughts towards the past 15 years of my life as I have lost weight (and not refound it), I find myself grateful for many things this Thanksgiving:
(more…)
by patbarone
Weight loss takes time. I’m often asked to define the best loss rate. My answer is: “The best rate is what your body and mind will allow. It will take as long as it takes YOU.”
There are natural restrictions on what your body will release in terms of weight. If you are careful to burn fat and nothing else (optimal because the body fights back when other elements of the body are threatened), you will release as much as your body can process. The process of burning fat is quite complicated, and doesn’t happen as efficiently as burning some butter on your stove – misunderstanding this is a big reason most people never achieve permanent weight loss.
Did you know that, if you could burn one pound of fat in a day (and you can’t), it would take
(more…)
by patbarone
No, I’m not talking about her skimpy outfits or the skinny half-naked dancers flanking her live shows.
Lady Gaga is the most famous woman in music/culture right now, and I don’t think it’s because of her music (although it’s quite good) – it’s because of her message. Music is only part of her life played out as performance art.
Her deeper message to her “little monsters” (her fans) is screw everyone if they don’t like you, be who you are, because, no matter what that might be, that’s perfect.
Lady Gaga at the 2011 Grammy Awards
What’s the connection to weight loss? Listen to (more…)
by patbarone
Having traveled my own quite complicated journey out of body hatred and losing over 70 lbs permanently, I’ve come to believe every body is different and unique, though we’re led by society/culture to believe their is a “standard.” I’ve had the experience of coaching hundreds of women towards their own unique “optimal” weight, and discovered we all lose weight at different rates (and, yes, in different places!).
Loving and appreciating our own distinctiveness isn’t the easy road in our society, but it can be done.
I once had a client lose weight at a rate of a pound a month, and be upset (more…)
by patbarone
It’s rare that we meet someone who is truly giving in this world. And so sad when the world loses such a person.
Today, I learned that a colleague of mine, a pioneer ADD coach, passed away. His name was Ken Zaretzky and he was truly a champion of coaching and coaches. He was a beautiful, open, painfully honest, caring man who loved to see coaches succeed. I first met him in one of my coach training courses, and he truly delighted in my success as a coach and businesswoman.
He would call me and say, “I just wanted you to know I heard you’re doing great things for your clients.” I never knew where he heard that (this was long before social media) but I was so touched he wanted me to hear good things.
He had this habit of giving money to people. (more…)
